Grant Thornton’s public sector business wins $350-million consulting contract from TSA

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has awarded Grant Thornton's public sector business with a $350 million blanket purchasing agreement (BPA) for program analysis and strategic support services. The five-year, single-award BPA has a ceiling of $350 million, and it aims to deliver integrated consulting and business program support services to the various security agency. Grant Thornton is an American member firm of Grant Thornton International, the seventh-largest accounting network in the world.

Grant Thornton has stated that it will help the TSA identify and gain technological capabilities to boost the agency's operational effectiveness. The consulting firm will provide an office-wide strategic initiative design that supports various areas such as risk mitigation, R&D, technology assessment, technical reviews, and risk analysis and management. Reports state that the TSA has approximately 47,000 employees and a $7.68 billion budget as of the fiscal year 2020.

Grant Thornton Public Sector utilizes a global networking platform to bring robust and innovative solutions and support the government's mission-critical needs. This experience will help the firm gain new insights and entrepreneurial culture that empowers its employees to deliver better outcomes for their clients' organizations and enterprises. The company states that it will further improve its services and help the public sector address various challenges in acquisition, human capital, data analytics, and performance management.

 

 

SkyChain collaborates with Synergy Global Announce to Create a VFX Rendering Company

SkyChain Technologies Inc., a Vancouver based company, providing Blockchain Infrastructure services and power solutions, in a recent announcement has stated that it has entered into an agreement with Synergy Global Consulting Corp. to establish a joint venture company that provides premier visual effects (VFX) and renders services to the film and entertainment industry. The company also aims to become a full IAAS (Infrastructure as a Service) provider in 2021.

Under the terms of the agreement, the total $800,000 investment will be in the joint venture company's equity stake. The $800,000 investment will comprise $400,000 from SkyChain and another $400,000 from an investment company. SkyTrain will have the right to appoint three out of six members of the joint venture's board. It is said that the long-term investment in the next project phase will be approximately over 1.5 million Canadian dollars.

SkyChain and Synergy will sign a final agreement by the end of April 2021 and are projecting to have the business up and running for service by August 20th, 2021. The company's primary vision is to become a leading player in crypto/data mining hosting by growing to 100Mw of crypto hosting capacity and providing the best in-house VFX services.

 

Pentagon swiftly halts the use of vaccine variant required to immunize deployed troops

The US Military and Defense Agency has stated that it has swiftly halted the administration of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine after federal health officials announced that people who have received the vaccine experienced a rare and severe blood clot. The US government's decision could deal a blow to the military's efforts to vaccinate its troops present in remote locations and overseas, predominantly dependent on the increasing availability of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

But Johnson & Johnson hasn't commented about this issue. The company has stated that it will allocate 86 percent fewer doses across the United States after further testing. The distribution of the single-shot vaccine has dipped down below 400,000. Federal administrators have stated that they will vaccine doses nationwide based on each state's adult population.

The Slowdown in vaccine distribution rate came in due to federal officials halting the administration of vaccines to its armed forces and deployed troops. To overcome this shortage of vaccines, the US government is planning to produce alternative vaccines. The government is planning to administrate single-dose vaccine or two-dose series made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

 

 

British Home Appliance Giant Dyson to Hire 450 Engineers and Scientists in UK and Singapore

To double its existing software and electronics engineering teams, the UK-based home appliance giant best known for its vacuum cleaners, Dyson, recruit 250 new engineers. Another 200 people are expected to be hired in science and research roles at Dyson's campuses in the United Kingdom. The new hire will be a part of Dyson's £2.75 billion global technology investment plan as the company aims to expand its research into advanced robotics and artificial intelligence.

In its global headquarters located in Singapore, Dyson will recruit 250 engineers. The company currently employs about 1,400 people in the city-state, nearly half of engineers and scientists. Dyson has also announced that it is planning to set up all-new cybersecurity and artificial intelligence research center in Singapore and in the UK to improve its security platform.

The firm also added that in the United Kingdom, 200 people would be hired in science and research roles at Dyson's Malmesbury and Hullavington innovation campuses. The new roles there will focus on breakthroughs in areas such as AI, machine learning, and high-speed digital motors and sensing technology. Dyson's research and development teams are present across the UK, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, and the United States.

 

The US Defense Research Projects Agency awards space propulsion contracts

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has given awards for its space contracts on successfully demonstrating the Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) program that predominantly aims to demonstrate a nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) system above low Earth orbit in the year 2025. The US Defence Agency has stated that General Atomics will develop the reactor, whereas Blue Origin and Lockheed Martin will develop the spacecraft design.

DARPA has said that rapid maneuver, which is a core tenet of modern US Department of Defense operations on land, at sea, and in the air, has improved several spacecraft based on its current electric and chemical space propulsion systems. It believes that DRACO's NTP system will potentially achieve high thrust-to-weight ratios similar to in-space chemical propulsion and approach the higher propellant efficiency of electric systems.

This combination will give DRACO spacecraft greater agility to integrate and implement rapid maneuver in cislunar space, which is present between the Earth and the moon. The first phase of the program will last for 18 months and has two tracks. Track A is performed by General Atomics that entails the primary design of the reactor and propulsion subsystem. Track B will see Blue Origin and Lockheed Martin working to produce an operating system of the spacecraft to meet the mission's objectives.